I've been watching the news reports on the Toyota recalls very closely since I drive a Toyota myself. The other day I was at the dealership for a minor repair (my car is not one of the recalled models) and asked the service manager whether it was a relief to be dealing with a problem that had nothing to do with the recalls.

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I just attended a business luncheon for a group of women entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. There were about 40 women in attendance. I returned to the office with a pile of business cards collected from the women I'd met. What struck me, as I reviewed them, was that only half of the cards gave any indication of what the business does.

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Last week, I had the privilege of touring the factory of the Chabaso Bakery, which makes delicious Artisan breads. This was a perfect tour for me... I love finding out how things are made (ever see 500 pounds of bread dough in a hot tub-sized mixer?)... and I love, love, love fresh bread. I was at Chabaso's as part of my membership in a business group I'm part of,

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Customer service expert John Goodman (founder of TARP Worldwide, the world's premier customer experience agency, www.tarp.com; his new book is called Strategic Customer Service) recently shared with some of my colleagues that the cutting edge of customer service is "Psychic Pizza". This simply means that companies anticipate what customers will want (or want to know) next and offer it to them before they ask.

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